Melancholy of the Midnight Blizzard
by FrozenDeluxe
Summary: This story is the sequel to The Light Within the Darkness. Keima and Elsie are safely home after surviving a week-long ordeal that nearly cost both of them their lives. However, a new threat is watching them, and it's coming tonight. Who is this newest enemy, and will Keima and the goddesses be able to prevail?
1. Chapter 1

**Happy holidays!**

 **Nice to meet you, and thank you for taking the time to read my fanfic!**

 **This story is the sequel to my previous fanfiction,** ** _The Light Within the Darkness._**

 **I'll be honest, I did not spend as much of my time on this storyline as I did on the first part.**

 **I'll be brief about the summary of TLWtD.**

 **Vintage betrays Lune, who gets badly injured and nearly dies. Keima finds her unconscious one day and hides her in the abandoned school theater, giving her a place to recover for as long as she likes. Soon, Vintage turns their attention on Keima, and try to capture him on the school rooftop after school. Elsie comes up as this happens, and the demons there attack her as well. Haqua shows up just in time to save them, but dies in the process. A loose soul infects Keima, turning him into a bloodthirsty monster. Using Haqua's scythe, he cuts down the massive amounts of demons there. Lune shows up to support him, but the loose soul almost kills her. Keima falls into a coma immediately after, leaving Elsie alone to find a way to save him.  
Long story short, she does. An old, illegal spell that can kill the spellcaster can use the power of the goddesses to awaken Keima. The only people knowledgeable enough to perform this spell, however, are in Vintage.  
Lune, for whatever reason, offers her abilities to help Keima.  
Vintage repeatedly goes after Elsie, but she escapes, usually with Lune's assistance.  
We find out that Haqua's spirit was absorbed into Keima, and a fraction of it lives on inside his consciousness.  
The goddesses meet in Keima's house one night to perform the life-saving charm. Outside, Loose Soul Team demons fight off the Vintage demons, who show up in their full force. The ending forked off into two different directions.  
Ending A: Keima is saved, Lune dies saving Minerva.  
Ending B: Everyone lives, Lune disappears, and a demon threatens Keima from a distance.**

 **This story is different from my usual style of writing. I am terribly unsure of this style, and I apologize in advance for any awkward moments.**

 **Happy reading!**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

-KEY-  
***###***=Start of chapter ++[Setting Change]++ [Author's Note]  
***=Break

Ladies and gentlemen, let's watch Vintage get beaten again.

***#1#***

"Reality is a jerk. The more you try to ignore it, the more it challenges you to your face."  
-FrozenDeluxe

++[Maijima City]++

It was a snowy Thursday night.

Keima and Elsie walked back from the game store. Naturally, Keima took his time in selecting only quality dating sims. He walked while playing his PFP.

Elsie, meanwhile, was heavily weighed down with shopping bags bulging with Keima's games. She struggled to keep up, but was focused on keeping his Divine Brother content with her.

"Brr...it's cold!" Elsie shivered.

Keima showed no indication of hearing her.

The only sound that could be heard was the snow crunching underneath their feet.

"Kami-Nii-Sama," Elsie said as she looked at Keima with concern,"are you alright?"

Keima put away his PFP but kept walking. He had a faraway look in his eyes. He kept his gaze level with the sidewalk in front of him.

She did have a good reason for asking.

Ever since the week-long ordeal that took place not too long ago, Keima had been more...isolated. Sure, he had always refused to make contact with reality, but this time, he was bent on avoiding it altogether. In school, all he ever did was play dating sims on his virtual reality console, oblivious to the other students. He didn't even complain when Nikaido whacked him with a textbook for not paying attention- something that she made sure to tease him for.  
Even after all of the Goddesses' hosts showed concern for him, Keima stubbornly refused their help.

"A god like me has no reason to lower himself to the problems of those beneath him," he told them before returning to his games.

Why was he so...cold?

They reached their house.

"Elsie," Keima said suddenly.

She looked at him.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine," he kindly assured her.

Elsie sighed,"But you always say that."

A flash of emotion crossed Keima's eyes for a brief moment, but he quickly concealed it as he started walking towards the door.

Elsie ran to catch up.

Obviously, Keima was being plagued by something. Why did he continue to put himself through so much pain, even though so many people offered to help?

They went inside the warm house.

++[Unknown Location]++

"These are the houses we're targeting," a hooded demon explained to an audience of other hooded figures.

In front of the one talking was a scale model of Maijima City. Seven houses were highlighted in red, and several others were marked in green.

"Are we aiming for the houses in red, or green, milady?" One of the demons in the audience asked the speaker.

The one briefing them paused for a moment. "The red houses are our priorities, because those are the goddess hosts."

"What are the green houses, then?" the unsure demon questioned.

"Those are possible hosts for goddesses, in case the ones in red aren't." the leader explained.

"Any more questions?" she asked.

No one spoke.

"Good," the leader said,"let's get our stuff ready. There's a snowstorm tonight, and it will be perfect for covering our mission."  
They all nodded and left the room.

On the map, six orange minifigures milled around in their red houses, minding their own business. Eventually, they went into tiny beds and glowed a light blue.

Of the highlighted houses, two of the red ones that were next to each other were marked in pink.

 **DANGEROUS** \- the labels read.

Meanwhile, two miniature green people walked into one of the pink houses...

 **-End**

A/N: Any problems? Please PM me immediately, so I can salvage the remaining story line and save myself the embarrassment!

-FrozenDeluxe

 **Chapter written: 8/30/15**

 **Chapter posted: 12/5/15**

 **Chapter updated 12/11/15**


	2. Chapter 2

+++#2#+++

"In all that is cold and dark, there is always a shred of warmth."  
-FrozenDeluxe

++[Unknown Forest]++

The snow blew across the wooded path. All the trees surrounding it were barren and covered in snow. Against the moon's gentle light, the snowflakes gleamed and sparkled brilliantly.

Lune took a moment to admire this, then kept walking down the path.

The snow was beginning to pick up. Lune could feel the wind blow through her cloak.

She wasn't sure where she wanted to go, only that she was near Maijima City. The lights from the sleepy city were still somewhat visible on the horizon.

"I need to find a place to spend the night," Lune decided. She considered heading for the abandoned school theater, but decided against it.

She continued to march slowly in the snow.

Keima crossed her mind. It had been so long since last she had seen him... and she wasn't far from him now.

Was he okay after all that he went through? How has he been?

Lune shook off her concern and began searching for some shelter. She spotted a small cave some distance off.

"Perfect," Lune thought,"just what I needed."

She trudged on towards the cave.

++[Keima's House]++

The snow blew violently against the window.

"Gee, Kami-Nii-Sama. It's scary outside," Elsie said as she stood by the window of his room.

Keima looked from the comfort of his gaming chair.

"It's nothing too serious," he dismissed the storm before returning to playing his seven dating sims at once.

Elsie sighed.

"Are you ever going to take a break?" Elsie asked.

Keima didn't say anything. He raised his hands for a moment, then suddenly brought them down on his table full of controllers.

On each of Keima's screens, a hero kissed the heroine.

He stood up and walked to the window.

Elsie glanced at him, then looked back out the window.

They stood there for a while, watching the snow pile up in the streets below them, then Keima walked to the door.

"I'm going to get a snack. You should go to sleep, Elsie," Keima said before turning away.

Elsie eagerly went to her room, and soon, she was dreaming about fire engines.

Keima came back to his room and continued playing dating sims.

"More conquering for the God!" he proclaimed with a laugh.

"Is this what you really are?" a voice from within his mind asked him.

Keima sighed. "Haqua, don't interrupt me like that!" he silently complained.

Despite the fact Haqua had been dead for months, her spirit still resided within Keima. Occasionally Keima could hear her voice in his mind.

He heard her laugh.

"You know," Keima heard her say,"you should stop worrying over Lune-Sama like that."

Keima paused his games.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he said curtly.

There was a tense pause.

"I'm in your mind, so you can't hide anything from me." Haqua reminded him with amusement.

"She's on her own now." Keima said,"What happens to her isn't any of my concern."

"Such cold words for a conquering god," was the response.

"..."

"You're concerned about her, aren't you?" Haqua teased him again.

Keima went back to playing his sims.

"I would do no such thing," he denied.

"You and I both know that's not true," Haqua chided him.

The window rattled as the wind blew swirls of snow against it.

 **-End**

A/N: A little explanation:

This story takes place a few months after TLWtD, and follows the route of Ending B.

Haqua is still alive within Keima's mind, and can communicate with him through his thoughts.

As far as the other characters, only the goddesses are aware that this situation exists between the two of them. Their hosts, however, do not know about this.

Sorry if this makes no sense.

-FrozenDeluxe *.*

 **Chapter written: 8/30-9/1**

 **Chapter posted: 12/5**

 **Chapter updated: 12/11**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'll be brief.**

 **Thank you, xellos540, for pointing out something important...**

 **I FORGOT A SETTING CHANGE MARKER IN CHAPTER 2!**

 **Heh, I'll fix that eventually.**

 **Anyway, here's chapter 3!**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

+++#3#+++

"Cold isn't a feeling. It's a state of being- the lack of warmth."

-FrozenDeluxe

* * *

++[Snowy Cave]++

Lune walked into the cave. The wind behind her blasted snow into the entrance, but it only went so far.

Her sword glinted against the moonlight.

-GUARDIAN-

Lune kept one hand on the handle and wandered deeper inside.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty cave. Above her head, stalactites slowly dripped water, and bats slept between the stone formations.

She could see some light coming from further down the cave.

"How interesting," Lune noted. She headed towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

Lune stepped into a large room with bare stone walls. The cave itself was not interesting, if not for what stood int the middle.

A magical model of Maijima City sat on a table. Houses were marked in red or green, and two were noted further with pink.

"DANGEROUS!" the label read.

She inspected the houses closer.

In the majority of houses, translucent blue figurines were asleep in their bed. There was one exception.

One doll that shone a dark red stood in its room. In a nearby room, another blue figure lay sleeping.

Lune used her raiment to access the model's control panel. She tapped into the system to find out what those dolls were for.

* * *

Hellian Model Maker V. 8.9

++Command #242222281++

USERNAME:8468243

PASSWORD:******

:Accessing...

Workspace-

Houses+

Dolls-

Cyan-

Apollo+

Diana+

Mars+

Vulcan+

Minerva+

Mercury+

Buddy+

Red-

God of Conquest+

StarterGUI+

ScriptService+

MagicalIndex+

NHIEncoder+

Lighting+

Labels-

Pink-

Dangerous+

Memberlist+

WeatherForce-

Blizzard+

Wind:72 mph.

Snowfall: 12 ft.

Temp: -10 F*

WindChill: -25 F*

Help+

* * *

Lune's eyes caught something in the corner of the map.

* * *

Time until execution:

1:35:43 Status:Briefing

Members Online:28/32 -

* * *

"This is a Vintage plot!" Lune realized with a shock. She shut off the model of Maijima City.

"I must warn him in time," she thought as she turned back towards the way she came in. She couldn't think of a good reason as to why, but it felt right to inform him of the danger he was in. Lune quickened her pace to a near dash towards the exit.

Lune was about to enter the tunnel out when she felt an arrow lodge itself in her back. Pain through her entire body as the arrow shaft burrowed into her back.

"Going so soon?" a voice drawled.

Lune slowly turned while grasping her sword. Her eyes widened with recognition, and she cracked a small smile.

"Long time no see!" she greeted the hooded demon pointing a crossbow at her.

"Funny, seems how I'm going to be the last person you'll ever see," the hooded demon said with mild amusement.

Lune drew her sword, but quickly felt her arms go limp. Lune's blood dripped onto the sword as it fell to the floor with a loud clatter. She fell onto her knees as her energy quickly melted into nothingness.

"Nice try," the hooded one smirked."By the way, that arrow's covered in a tranquilizer."

Lune's sword shimmered for a bit, then vanished into thin air. The Vintage leader watched the blade fade away, then continued watching Lune with a fixed gaze.

"Well, this is embarassing," Lune cursed as she lost more of her senses.

She felt her body get weaker as her vision darkened, probably from losing blood. She slowly crumpled to the floor.

The hooded demon's laughs echoed through the cave as Lune lost consciousness.

That laugh was all too familiar, Lune thought.

++[Keima's House]++

Keima finished another six games within seconds of each other. In one hour, Keima had made significant progress in catching up on his backlog of games. After a while of playing seven games at once, he slightly reduced his pace back down to his usual six consoles after reducing the number of games left to a manageable size. The move didn't help much though- Keima was still somewhat drained from activating his God mode. He leaned back heavily on his gaming chair, another round of conquests executed successfully.

"I love nights like these," he thought to himself with pleasure.

Haqua had gone back into the depths of his mind for the night, leaving Keima alone with his thoughts.

Keima took a break and glanced towards the window. Outside, the snow still blew in swirls of glistening white. The wind howled as the bare branches of trees swayed in the strong winds.

Where was Lune now? Was she outside, despite the dangers that this weather posed?

A bright flash illuminated the room, and something materialized in front of Keima.

Keima took the sword hovering near him and set it down on an empty desk.

An eerie glow came off from the item on the desk.

Keima shut off all his consoles, leaving the room illuminated by the gleaming object in front of him.

He inspected the blade in front of him. It was a beautiful sword, made out of a stone that gleamed a dark blue. The handle was encrusted with amethysts and other gems. He could barely make out the Hellian engraved on it because of the blood that glazed it.

-GUARDIAN-

"What is this?" Keima wondered to himself.

Keima was jolted from his thoughts as he heard Elsie scream from the other room.

* * *

 **A/N: I found the horizontal line function. :)**

 **NOTICE: I will be on vacation for the next two weeks...and by that I mean away from any opportunity I have to work on this story.**

 **I was initially planning on posting a double chapter next weekend, but it does not seem possible now.**

 **Please be patient with me. I apologize for any inconveniences I will cause.**

 **:)**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy New Year! Apologies for taking a break. I'm sure you were anxious to see what happened next.**

 **School for me starts this Monday. Ugh.**

 **Here's a double chapter to make up for it! :)**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

+++#4#+++

Men willingly believe what they wish.

Julius Caesar

* * *

Keima burst into Elsie's room.

"What's wrong?" Keima asked upon seeing that they were not in immediate danger.

Elsie sat on her bed clutching her head tightly. "Nii-Sama," she whimpered, "I'm scared."

Keima sat down beside her and waited for Elsie to calm down. He wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"I had a nightmare, but it felt so real," Elsie whispered softly after a while.

"Tell me about it," Keima said calmly.

"I was in a cave, and there was this table with a model of a house- _our_ _house,_ " Elsie recalled.

"Go on," Keima prompted her. "This dream isn't normal," he realized.

"I turned it off and started to leave, when an arrow hit me." Elsie continued. Her hands were shaking. Keima held one of them gently, and she calmed down a bit.

"Then there was a sword. I have one just like it, but I gave another to Lune-Sama. It fell to the ground and disappeared."

Elsie reached under her bed and showed Keima the sword Dokuro had given her.

Keima was silent for a moment. He stared at the blade intently.

"Elsie, come with me," Keima told his terrified sister.

They walked down to his bedroom, then Keima bolted the doors and windows as a safety precaution.

"Is this the sword you were dreaming about?" Keima gestured to the bloodstained blade on his table.

Elsie took one look at it, then tears started falling quietly down her cheeks. She nodded quietly, and twiddled her fingers with anxiety.

Again, Keima said nothing. He walked to the window and looked out into the snowy night.

"I think," Keima said quietly,"that you had more than just a dream."

* * *

++[Snowy Cave]++

Lune woke up with a burning pain in her back. She slowly sat up and analyzed her surroundings.

The cave she was in was much smaller than the one with the models. The rocky walls were bare and without any windows. The only light came from a small candle hanging over a doorway that was reinforced with a raiment. It would take more than just kick to knock down this door.

The pain from the arrow continued to spread. Lune grasped its shaft, pulled it out, and nearly blacked out from the wave of shock. Lune turned the arrow around in her hands for a bit, then put it in one of her pockets.

"This might come in handy," Lune concluded.

Very gently, she used her raiment to bandage the deep wound.

Lune stood up unsteadily and walked over to the door.

It was locked.

Lune inspected herself and saw that her sword was gone. Aside from the arrow wound, she wasn't hurt too badly. She had a few cuts and scrapes from bring dragged on the stone floor, but nothing serious.

"What do I do now?" Lune pondered.

Keima would be in increasing danger each passing moment. Wasn't there anything she could do?

Lune tried kicking the door, but more for entertainment than it was an attempt to escape. As expected, the reinforced door wouldn't budge.

What other possible routes were there?

Her prison must have been equipped with a strong insulator against any transmissions, because Lune's loose soul sensor couldn't get any sort signal. There was no possibility of sending out a distress signal.

She still had her raiment, though. Lune turned towards a wall and transformed her raiment into a drill. The spiraling heads ground against the stone of the walls, then shattered without leaving a mark.

"There's no use for my raiment then," Lune decided. She deactivated it, leaving only a small patch of white, filmy cloth. Lune tucked it inside her lab coat and tried to find another possible escape route.

"What about magic?" the thought occurred to her. Lune muttered some incantations to cast a burrowing spell, but nothing happened. "Looks like this place insulates magic, too," Lune noticed with disappointment.

Whoever designed this jail cell knew what they were doing.

She kicked the door again in frustration, then laid down against the opposing wall.

There was nothing to do but sit there and create an escape plan.

"Well," Lune muttered to herself, "this is certainly an _interesting_ development."

* * *

Vintage gathered around the model of Maijima City once more.

"Despite a little... _interruption_ ," their leader spoke,"we should be able to execute our plan tonight."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Let's do this," she commanded with malice.

The Vintage demons flew out of the cave into the sleeping city ahead of them. They did not notice the change in the model, however.

One of the sleeping blue dolls suddenly turned red. It already had a pink note above its head, but now it was a vivid crimson.

* * *

 **-WARNING! STATUS COMPROMISE!** \- the text read.

* * *

The doll flew out of the house and went into another house.

Several yellow dots hovered over each of the colored houses. The dolls inside most of them disappeared almost immediately, but a few seemed to put up an invisible struggle. One fought in an apartment building, and the other resisted from within a mansion. The others disappeared without stirring.

The clump of yellow dots that surrounded the houses flew back towards an arrow labeled "BASE."

Minutes later, two dots advanced towards the two final houses, which were located right next to each other.

* * *

 **Chapter Initiated: 9/7**

 **Updated 12/10**

 **Posted 1/2**


	5. Chapter 5

**I realize that this chapter may have problems in it. I was up late working on it...**

 **Oh well.**

 **Here's the next chapter! Sorry, action scenes aren't my specialty.**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

+++#5#+++

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.

Soren Kierkegaard

* * *

++[Keima's House]++

Keima and Elsie stayed inside Keima's room. Keima played his galges, while Elsie turned over in Keima's bed. Every now and then she would peek outside, but mostly she tried unsuccessfully to get some sleep.

Elsie jolted up as she looked outside the window. In the dark sky, five circles with ancient handwriting lit up the sky. She gasped upon seeing the sight.

"Nii-sama!" she went to her brother and shook his shoulder, "look at this!" She dragged him to the window.

Keima narrowed his eyes at the symbols. "They look like the symbol I saw when Apollo was stabbed by Vintage."

Elsie sat down on the bed, and Keima sat in his chair and rested his head on his hands.

Keima's bedroom window opened, and Diana flew in.

"Katsuragi," Diana greeted him curtly.

Keima looked up from his chair and Elsie looked at the goddess nervously.

"But I just locked that window," Keima complained.

"Vintage is back." Diana announced grimly. Her gaze shifted to the floor. "I failed to warn my sisters in time," she cursed.

Keima had no reply.

"My sisters warned me as they were attacked by the demons," Diana lowered her gaze. "I expect that they'll come after both of us next."

Keima stood up, blade in hand, and looked at the goddess.

"There's no chance of us being able to defend ourselves against them," Keima stated.

Elsie looked up at him from the bed.

"That may be true," Diana countered, "but-"

"We're better off keeping our distance from them, avoiding any direct confrontations,"

Diana frowned. "But what about my sisters?"

"We'll have a better chance of saving them with some sort of plan than we do getting captured ourselves," Keima explained.

A nod of agreement came from Diana. "Very well, but what is our course of action tonight?"

"I will not give myself up without a fight, nor will I leave any of you behind." Keima said firmly as he walked to the window and locked it. He closed the curtains, then proceeded to pace around his room. "We should stick together until it's safe."

"Fine with me," Diana said. Elsie also shook her head in agreement.

Footsteps suddenly thumped from the roof. Elsie flinched upon hearing the Vintage intruders walk around. "Nii-Sama!" she cried as she scurried to Keima's side.

Diana looked up at the ceiling, tense with anticipation.

"What do we do?" Elsie whispered nervously.

Diana glanced at Keima and Elsie. "I can make us invisible," she suggested, "and New Hell magic won't be able to find us."

"Perfect," Keima said.

The goddess turned to Elsie. "I need you to deactivate your raiment, just for now," she commanded the demon.

Elsie opened a menu on her raiment and pressed a holographic button. The raiment shrank and folded itself into a pink square of silky fabric, which Elsie tied around her wrist as a bracelet.

Diana nodded a silent thanks as she watched this happen.

The loud clatter of glass shattering resounded from somewhere. Elsie stifled a gasp.

Diana waved her hands and made them all invisible. They could see each other, but to the outside world, their scents, sounds and temperatures were concealed completely.

"Where do we hide?" Diana asked Keima.

Keima looked around his room for a moment. It was too risky to leave the room, so they were confined to hiding within the boundaries of his room. He analyzed carefully, his eyes coming to rest on a potential hiding spot. He gestured to the space beneath his bed, and both Elsie and Diana nodded in quiet understanding.

Silently, they crawled under Keima's bed, which was vacant enough to fit all three of them.

Footsteps from heavy boots echoed from down the hall.

Keima noticed that Elsie's hands were trembling with fear. He reached out with a hand and grasped one of her hands firmly. He could feel her tense muscles relax, but only slightly.

The door to Keima's bedroom burst open with a mighty kick, and two hooded demons ran in with crossbows at the ready.

...

The pair searched the entire room, using flashlights attached to their crossbows to navigate the dark room. One of them had a device that detected Hellian magic. It was strangely quiet, considering the fact that the people they were hunting were right under their noses.

A demon shone a light under the bed, right where Diana was crouched over. He held it there for a moment, oblivious to the people in front of him.

Elsie gripped Keima's hand so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

The demon left and met in the center with his partner.

They both looked around and decided that the room was empty.

[For the sake of dialogue, these are demons A and B]

"Darn it," A cursed out loud.

They looked at each other.

"Well, they're all that's left, right?" B asked.

"Yeah, we have five of the goddesses so far, last I heard," A answered.

Keima felt Diana sob quietly.

"This is kinda worrying- the other house was just as empty," A recalled.

"Ahh, our leader won't be pleased to hear about this." B said.

"Dibs on not being the one telling her," A called.

B slapped A's head.

"Well," B cursed, "the boss said we can't do anything until we have all six."

"To be honest, I have no idea why she's so focused on these goddesses," A answered while rubbing his head.

"Some sort of spirit experiment, right?" B responded.

They looked around the room again.

"Well, this sucks," A complained.

B walked to the table where Lune's sword sat.

"Hey, check this out," he called to A, who picked up the sword and turned it around.

They inspected it.

"Didn't that one demon who broke into our base have something like this?" A remembered.

"Yeah," B nodded.

They looked at each other.

"I'm not writing a report on this," B decided.

"Me neither," A agreed.

B swung the sword in the air for a bit, narrowly missing A.

"Watch it!" A ducked.

B placed the sword back on the table.

"Well," he said,"I'm heading back out. The others are back at the base waiting for us."

They opened the window and flew out.

...

After a while, the trio crawled out of their hiding spot, but remained invisible.

Diana fell against the wall and wept silently.

"I should have warned them," she angrily muttered to herself, "I should have gone out and fought Vintage off."

Keima stood beside her. "You would have been captured if you went out by yourself," Keima said. "We'll find them, I promise," he assured her. He took her hand in his own and held it comfortingly.

Diana didn't even blush the way she probably would have at any other time. Instead, she focused on finding a way to save her sisters.

Elsie paced across the floor. "How did they not see us even though they had a magic detector?" she wondered.

"Their technology only detects Hellish magic, but heavenly magic is beyond its range," Diana quickly explained.

"New message!" an angelic voice chimed.

Keima walked to his PFP and quickly found the message.

* * *

To: Katsuragi Keima {GameKamiGG8}

From: Nakagawa Kanon {MagicalStarKanon}

Subject: Message

Received 22:31:13

* * *

people in my apartment

hiding

goddess hosts for experiment

need all 6

trying to take us somewhere

apollo wants to fight

I know you will find us.

I have faith in you.

You've saved me twice before, and I know you will not give up on us.

I love you.

-Kanon

P.S. They mentioned their leader. Do you know someone named FiGJRORTSJRasdafsaEAOPAETJ9u8?"LOKPJHoujio9875)54)Pq348349463/ji[]p[;p;9i -

* * *

Keima read the message with horror. He stared at it, Kanon's parting message to him.

"I have faith in you," she had typed with her delicate fingers.

Keima stood up, attracting both Diana and Elsie's attention.

"They definitely have Apollo," he shut off his PFP.

Diana leaned back against the wall, another bout of silent tears struggling to surface.

"How are we supposed to find them?" she asked.

Keima had no immediate answer to that, but then he didn't have to.

The sword lying on Keima's console desk illuminated the room, and a holographic memory came up. It projected an image on the wall...a memory.

They looked the sword with interest, then watched the memory as it played before them.

* * *

Written 9/3-9/5

Updated 12/3

Published 1/4/16


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for the reviews! They keep me motivated and give me the strength to continue writing!**

 **Enjoy the next chapter!**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

 **Dare I say "thankonomics?"**

* * *

+++#6#+++

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

Desmond Tutu

* * *

++[Flashback]++

Lune walked down the path towards the cave. She stopped at a snow-covered sign and brushed the powder coat off.

 **-MOONLIGHT FOREST-**

 **Named after its famous views of the full moon,**

 **this forest preserve is one of the few remaining**

 **forests south of Maijima City. To your right is a**

 **small waterfall, Destiny Falls.**

She looked at the cascading waterfall, which was frozen in time. The ice hung suspended over the edge, waiting to fit the water that solidifed below it.

Lune stared at the signpost again, then tapped it with her raiment. The text glowed as it moved around and transformed to display a new message.

 **Vintage Stronghold 12-H: Ahead**

She turned her head back towards Maijima City. Maijima High School wasn't too far from her. Even from a distance, she could still see the towering skeleton of the abandoned theater. After a moment of thought, she decided against heading to the theater. Lune continued her trek towards the cave in front of her.

++[End of flashback]++

Diana's eyes gleamed a brilliant red with determination.

"I must find that cave!" she announced. She turned towards the window.

Keima put a hand on her shoulder.

"Save it for tomorrow," he advised her, "we need time to plan our way thoroughly."

They spent a little bit of time plotting their route, especially their point of entry. It was difficult to focus, though, because Keima had to continuously reassure Diana that what happened that night was not her fault.

Diana went back to Tenri's house for the night, and Keima and Elsie went to bed to try and catch a few uneasy hours of rest.

++[Snowy Cave]++

The door to Lune's cell opened to reveal two waiting Vintage demons armed with rifles.

"Come with us," one of the masked troops ordered in a rough voice.

Lune was conflicted on whether or not she should attack them. In the end, she decided to cooperate.

"Maybe I can learn something useful along the way," she thought. She snuck a glance above the doorway, and the others didn't notice.

They blindfolded her with part of a raiment and marched her somewhere. Their footsteps echoed from the cavern walls as they made their way down a hallway.

Lune was somewhat curious to see what her old colleagues had been up to in her absense. She would find out soon. Her escorts entered a room and roughly guided her inside.

The two demons guarding her forced her to stop walking. Lune felt something slide down from the ceiling above her. The blindfold around her eyes disappeared upon her new chamber's sealing.

What Lune saw astounded her.

The room itself looked very much like a regular cave. Stalactites and stalagmites dotted the floors and ceiling. It was also worth noting the deep cracks in the walls and ceiling, both of which were reinforced by raiments.

Lune stood inside a sealed glass tube. In the room were many other cylinders like the one she was trapped in, eleven to be exact. Connected to each tube-like contraption was a bundle of wires leading to something large in the middle, but a tarp had been placed over it, concealing the object.

The room she was in was empty except for these machines, a few panels of gauges, and other demons keeping track of them. In front of the only doorway, a sign hung from the ceiling.

 **WARNING!**

 **Anti-Magic Barrier is in effect! Please deactivate all raiments before entering for safety purposes.**

"Hello, old friend," the cloaked leader of the lab walked up to meet her.

"I see these caves haven't gotten any better since last I was here," Lune smirked.

"When we're through with this experiment, our next hideout will be all of New Hell," the hooded demon replied.

"But that's nothing interesting, really," the captor waved her hand, "how are you feeling?"

"The same way I do when it comes to any other sort of _flower_ -sick," Lune teased.

"Shut up."

"Chief, we're ready to begin," a masked scientist called out from across the room.

The leader turned behind her. "Start the extraction," she ordered him. The demon nodded and turned a dial on a nearby panel.

Lune's airtight prison slowly filled with a translucent pink liquid that quickly seeped out from beneath her.

"By the way," Lune's captor said, "you may want to put on that mask above you, or you'll drown." Lune shrugged and did so.

"I'll take any chance of survival over none," Lune decided to herself.

At this point the strange pink solution was up to her shoulders.

Lune felt her strength slowly dissipate into the fluid surrounding her. Her body floated in the liquid that was rapidly rising in level. There was no feeling from Lune's limbs, which floated helplessly in the mysterious solution. She felt her consciousness detach from her body as all of her feelings dulled. The room darkened as Lune's eyelids struggled to stay open.

"Well this is no fun," Lune weakly grinned, "I can't feel anything."

"Farewell," the hooded leader waved before turning to leave the room, "I've got more visitors to entertain."

"They have the goddesses!"Lune realized as it became more difficult to form coherent thoughts. She managed one last curse before all of her senses went dead.

* * *

...

The model of Maijima glowed with a bright red tint as it sat on a stone table.

Groups of Vintage demons waited around it, and their leader soon marched through the entrance.

"Are the goddesses in their holding cell?" she checked.

The others nodded.

"Umm, chief?" Demon A spoke up.

The interruption resulted in a nasty glare from the boss.

"We...were not able to locate the Capturing God, his demon buddy, and one of the goddesses," A timidly reported.

The hooded demon slammed her palms upon the tabletop, cracking it a little. "You _WHAT_?" the leader roared at demons A  & B.

Everyone else winced.

A ball of green flames from his superior had him wincing in pain. Part of his cloak caught fire, and demon B extinguished it by stamping out the fire.

"Ow..." demon A rubbed a sore spot.

"I send my best demons to retrieve them..." the hooded leader muttered to herself as she put a palm to her forehead.

She turned to the model of Maijima City, only to find the notifications piled up.

* * *

 **Hellian Model Maker Ver. 8.9**

 **-Notifications-**

-STATUS COMPROMISE! {2}-

-STATUS REVERT {1}-

-LOCATION COMPROMISE! {1}-

+=Interaction Confirmed {3}=+

...

:exe prgmLOCATE _ERROR:CONNECTION LOST {3}

...

:exe prgmLOCATE2 _ERROR:CONNECTION LOST {3}

...

_Failed to locate {3}

...

:end

* * *

Their leader looked at the screen for a moment, then cursed loudly.

"This plan cannot fail," she told her underlings, "because we let them escape."

The other hooded ones nodded.

"We cannot continue any further until we have all six goddesses."she reminded them. "Tomorrow, we will all go out and retrieve these three nuisances, no matter what."

"All of us...except for you," the demon beckoned to demons A and B. "You two will watch this model, and you are to report to me any changes that come up." she ordered them.

A muffled sigh of relief came from the two of them, and they saluted nervously.

"Tonight, however, it's time to celebrate," she told the her men. "We have successfully captured five of the six goddesses, and one step closer to reviving Old Hell!" she raised a cup into the air.

The henchmen cheered, then went to eat, drink, and be merry.

...

* * *

-End-

 **A/N: I kind of slacked off on this chapter. Oh well.**

* * *

 **Chapter written: 9/5/15**

 **Chapter updated/posted: 1/9/16**

Note: all date markings are in the format M/D/Y


	7. Chapter 7

**I feel so very tired of writing at the moment. From the looks of it, I'll take a weekend off before I continue posting any more chapters. I also have a few major issues within future events that need to be addressed... this will take a while...**

 **That being said, enjoy this chapter!**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

+++#7#+++

 _Being brave enough to just be unapologetic for who you are, that's a goddess. -Banks_

* * *

++[Friday Morning, Keima's House]++

By the time Elsie woke up, Keima was already downstairs heating breakfast. Conveniently, their mother was away on a business trip in another city, giving Keima the privacy he needed to plan his route into the Vintage base. Elsie came downstairs and sat down at the table. Keima brought her a plate and took a seat as well. They ate quickly, then started walking to school.

As usual, Tenri waited outside their house. She followed the two as they slowly made their way to Maijima High.

Tenri's body glimmered briefly as Diana took control of it.

"Any developments?" Diana asked Keima.

"It would appear that we have to fly in, but it's difficult to plan any further without more information on the base," Keima explained.

Diana nodded. "I hope nothing bad happened to my sisters," she prayed as she looked ahead. "What are you planning on doing, then?"

"I'll gather as much information as I can today, and we'll go on from there," Keima responded.

They continued walking down towards the school in silence. Both the god and the goddess were deep within their own thoughts.

Keima didn't pull out his PFP like he normally would. He simply walked on, focusing every thought towards finding a way to save the goddesses. Elsie watched him with concern. "Nii-sama," she thought, "I hope you aren't wearing yourself out."

Eventually they reached Keima's school.

"Stay safe, Katsuragi," Diana said as she started walking away. Keima looked back, but the goddess had quickly disappeared into the crowd of people milling about.

"Elsie," Keima called his demon buddy, "let's go find out as much about the goddess hosts as we can."

Elsie nodded.

They turned towards the school and walked through the front gates.

* * *

++[Maijima High School]++

In the classroom, Keima quickly scanned the desks for the other goddess hosts.

Ayumi was not present, much to Chihiro's surprise. She sat next to the empty desk and typed furiously on her phone. It was clear that she was concerned, especially after playing a crucial part in her conquest. After a while, she looked up from her phone screen and glanced at Keima questioningly. She realized what she was doing, and quickly looked away, blushing.

Kanon's seat in the corner was also unoccupied. Keima would have dismissed it if not for the disturbing email imprinted in his mind. "I have faith in you, Keima-Kun," he practically heard her whisper. The very thought sent chills up Keima's spine.

Throughout his classes Keima and Elsie learned more about the other goddess hosts.

He heard whispers from some students that Yui did not show up to school today. It would have been a matter to be happy about, if not for the circumstances causing her absence. Elsie learned that the Astronomy Club's after-school discussion was cancelled because its president was absent.

At lunchtime, Keima and Elsie visited the library and saw that Shiori's desk was empty. A large pile of unread books took her place instead, nearly obscuring the chair behind the table. A notebook also sat on the desk. It piqued his curiosity, but Keima decided against opening it.

"Best not to have a repeat of earlier events," he remembered.

As Keima walked out the library, he decided to check out the school's abandoned theater. Elsie made her way to the school, ready to make a raiment doll if the need ever arose.

* * *

++[Vintage Stronghold]++

" **LET US OUT!** " Mars roared as she battered the door with another fierce blow.

"Forget it, Mars," Apollo rolled her eyes.

"There's no way out of here without putting us in more danger," Vulcan added.

Mercury snored as she slept against the wall. Minerva cuddled with her, for both assurance and warmth.

"Well," Vulcan said, "they're still missing Diana, so at least have some hope."

Apollo nodded. "And it looks like we need Katsuragi-kun's help again."

Mars pounded on the door again. " **COME OVER HERE AND WE'LL TEACH YOU A LESSON!** " she yelled.

"Mars," Mercury woke up and yawned with annoyance, "people are trying to sleep."

Mars kicked the door in frustration, shaking the doorway violently.

"Cut it out, will you?" Mercury frowned.

Something loosened from the ceiling and knocked Mars on the head before falling to the floor.

Vulcan squinted at the object. "What is that thing, Mars?"

Mars picked up the bloodstained arrow from the floor. "Just an arrow." She turned it over, and a small square of a raiment became visible. It was tied to the shaft of the bolt, a message of sorts.

"Hold that thought," Mars unfolded the square of mystical fabric and stared at the Hellian handwriting.

"Dear goddesses," she read aloud.

Apollo turned her head upon hearing that line. "Whoever wrote that knew we were coming."

Mars shushed her sister and continued reading.

* * *

Dear goddesses,

You may have noticed that this cell is anti-Hell magic.

However, Vintage forgot about lock-picking. In order to prevent _accidental lock-ins,_ they put a keyhole in the doorknob. What idiots.

At the moment, however, I am in no condition to break out of here. At any rate, I think I'll learn as much as possible by giving myself up. Be aware, of course, that I have no intention of dying.

You actually have a chance to make it out alive. I'd suggest taking this opportunity.

Enclosed is the way out of this cell.

Good luck!

-Lune

* * *

Apollo and Mars looked at each other.

"So... Lune-sama was here, too?" Apollo asked.

"Looks like it," Mars inspected the blood staining the arrowhead.

Vulcan rested her chin on her hands. "She must have run into more trouble than we did."

The goddesses were quiet for a moment.

"What did she mean by 'lock-picking'?" Mars pondered.

Apollo pointed to the doorknob, where a small keyhole was barely visible. "Can I borrow that arrow for a moment?" she asked her sister.

Mars handed her the bloody arrow.

Apollo inserted the arrowhead into the doorknob, and with a few turns, she unlocked the door with ease. She pulled the arrow out of the keyhole and tested her work by twisting the doorknob slightly.

It turned.

"Better than trying to knock the door down, don't you think?" Apollo flashed a smile.

"Wow, Apollo," Mars gaped, "since when were you so good at picking locks?"

Apollo winked. "I'll never tell!" she smiled playfully.

Vulcan used her wings to bring her to a standing position. "Well done, Apollo, but are we ready to handle what might wait for us outside?"

Apollo turned her gaze to Mercury and Minerva, who slept through the entire conversation. "I think so," she answered.

"We should be fine," Mars assured her.

"Sisters," Vulcan shook Mercury's shoulder gently, "we have found a way out."

* * *

 **Written: 9/12-9/15**

 **Update Insertion:1/8/16-1/12/16**

 **Chapter Posted: 1/18/16**

 **Ugh I felt lazy on this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi again! I realize now that it's a very bad idea to start posting a story when I haven't even finished the ending yet.**

 **:/**

 **Anyways, here's another new chapter!**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

+++#8#+++

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. -Wayne Dyer

* * *

++[Abandoned Theater]++

Keima stood outside the towering building before it.

Ever since the fire, the theater was declared unsafe by the authorities, who sealed the door. Nevertheless, Keima got in through a broken window. He observed dried blood on some the glass shards on and around the window frame. Keima kept his suspicions to himself as to whose blood that was.

"So this is where you kept her," Haqua's voice noted with amusement.

"You demons would never have thought to check here," Keima countered.

"True... Wait, what was that supposed to mean?" Haqua asked angrily.

Keima ignored the voice inside his head and headed in. He walked down the fire-ravaged hallways. Most of the rooms were badly damaged, but a corner of the theater had survived the inferno that took place months ago. With every step the ashy rugs coughed up more dust.

"Maybe it's my imagination," Haqua commented, "but it looks like something happened since the last time I was here."

"Nothing much," Keima answered, "just a 'suspicious fire.'" Keima himself knew very little about the fire, only that Lune had risked her life to rescue Elsie from Vintage demons just before it started.

"Interesting," Haqua noted.

Keima soon found himself in front of a large mirror.

He pressed one of the gems that was inlaid into the frame, and a doorknob stuck out. Opening the door, he found the hidden room exactly as he remembered it.

"Now where did you ever find the time to find a place like this?" Haqua wondered.

Keima had no reply. He stood back and analyzed the concealed chamber.

The walls were lined with shelves of books, and a desk sat in the middle. On the desk sat a Vintage-engraved sword and a handwritten note.

* * *

Until next time, Katsuragi.

-Lune

* * *

It was clear that Lune had not been here in a while, because the bookshelves against the walls all had a layer of dust on them. On these shelves were various books Lune had used to find a cure for a loose soul- his loose soul, in fact. One of them, however, had a row of Vintage guidebooks, maps, charts, and procedures. Keima took a wire-bound book on the layouts of strongholds. He noticed a slip of paper bookmarking one of the pages, and he flipped the book to that section.

 **Stronghold 12-H**

After skimming a few pages, Keima closed the book and put it in his backpack.

"Haqua," Keima called out to her.

He could feel her blush as she quickly responded with a flustered "What?"

"Do me a favor," Keima requested, "Keep this place a secret from the others."

"Okay," Haqua answered with an undertone of relief.

Keima through the doorway. "This plan cannot fail," he thought to himself.

* * *

++[Snowy Cave]++

Mars peeked around a corner. "Looks safe to me," she whispered to her sisters.

Apollo nodded.

They wandered into what looked like some sort of mess hall. Tables and chairs were spread out within the room in orderly rows.

"Once we get outside, we can teleport out of here without being noticed," Vulcan murmured.

"Why don't we just teleport now, and why aren't we flying?" Apollo questioned.

"Because," Mercury mumbled groggily, "we might trip some sort of...zzzzzz." The sleeping goddess slumped to the floor, curled up, and started snoring before she finished her sentence.

Apollo face-palmed. "Of all the times to fall asleep, you pick now?"

Mars walked over to wake her sister when she spotted something sticking out of her plucked the tranquilizer dart off of her sister and held it up for the others to see. The goddesses held their breath when they realized what it meant.

"Going somewhere?" a voice drawled from somewhere in the room.

"Run!" Mars ordered as she turned to carry her sister.

Immediately upon hearing this, a hail of darts shot towards the goddesses. Minerva tried to create a forcefield around them, but the darts melted through it with ease. They must have had homing charms on them, too, because they arced in the air and flew straight towards each of the goddesses.

A streak of light suddenly blasted through the air, deflecting all of the darts away from their intended targets. As each dart hit the streak of light, it froze midair and glowed with purple streaks of electricity. The darts clattered harmlessly to the floor and laid still.

Apollo squinted to follow the object's trajectory. The goddess could barely track the glimmering light that shot around the room until it slowed down.

"Vul-nee-sama?" Apollo gaped.

Vulcan glared at the room in front of her, with the bright light hovering just in front of her.

The bloodstained arrow that Lune had left behind was nicked with marks left by the darts, but it had done its job splendidly. Vulcan inspected it momentarily, then spun it around in the air with her telekinesis.

"When you're done hiding," Vulcan growled to their attacker, "Come get what is due to you." The other goddesses shivered upon hearing the malice in Vulcan's voice.

A stray dart went flying towards Vulcan, but she swatted it away easily with the arrow.

"This is growing to be quite boring," Vulcan hissed. She looked at her sisters. "Go on without me," she commanded them.

"I'm not leaving you again!" Mars insisted as she carried Mercury. Minerva toddled closely behind.

"Me neither!" Apollo agreed.

Vulcan shook her head. "Stubborn as always."

The air in front of her distorted as a hooded figure materialized. Unlike regular Vintage demons, this one had no eyeball mask, but the hood covered the demon's face instead.

"Who are you?" Apollo demanded.

The demon pulled out a dart gun from inside her cloak and fired a tranquilizer dart at Apollo.

The arrow was quick to react. It shattered the flying dart and pierced her arm.

The hooded enemy winced as blood streamed from the arrow wound. She cursed as she nursed her injured arm, then laughed suddenly. "Do you not realize," the demon cackled, "that there's no escape from here?"

Vulcan suddenly felt a twinge of pain from her arm. She raised her hand to eye level and saw another dart stuck to it.

"Vul-nee-sama!" Mars cried. The others looked on as the sedative quickly began to take effect.

More demons suddenly appeared from thin air, all of which had sedative-loaded dart guns.

The hooded demon tugged the arrow out of her arm and pointed it at Vulcan. "You put up a good fight though," she sneered.

"Doesn't matter," Mars spoke up defiantly, "we'll resist you to the very end!"

"Suit yourself," the hooded demon shrugged. With lightning speed, she fired another dart that hit Minerva.

Minerva wobbled for a bit, whimpered, and slowly fell to the ground. The forcefield flickered around the goddesses, and collapsed. Apollo ran over and gently carried Minerva to safety behind a table.

"Now you've done it!" Mars roared. She summoned a sword of light and charged at the demon.

Vulcan's vision gradually clouded. As she felt herself crumple to the ground, she heard her sisters scream as the other demons opened fire.

As Vulcan slipped in and out of consciousness, she heard the Vintage demons surround the goddesses.

"Take them to the lab," Vulcan heard the leader command, "And find me some bandages, while you're at it."

Vulcan felt a raiment carry her off of the floor gently.

Then all went silent.

* * *

++[Friday Night, Abandoned Theater]++

A layout of Vintage's hideout was spread out over the table.

Diana, Elsie, and Keima stood over it.

"It should be noted," Keima pointed out, "that Vintage issued a command to abandon this stronghold nearly four years ago."

In fact, the page that bookmarked the chapter was the evacuation order.

* * *

 ***ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS***

Due to recent cave-ins, this base has been decommissioned. All stationed members are hereby ordered to abandon quarters immediately.

A total of four demons lost their lives in the collapses that took place in this cave. We have lost all but one of our holding cells in cave ins, and most of the structure is heavily damaged. To prevent such a disaster from ever happening again, we are taking steps to find bases above ground.

Any demons injured in future accidents resulting from disobeying this notice will not receive compensation.

* * *

"Whoever is holding the goddesses doesn't want the other members to know about it," Keima concluded. "This also puts the goddesses in more danger, because the cave itself is unstable, and it may collapse at any time."

"Where are my sisters held?" Diana gestured to the map.

A hallway labeled HOLDING CELLS branched off into several different cells. All but one of them were crossed out in red ink with an X.

Keima pointed out the small room. "Most likely here."

"At the same time," Keima continued, "they could also be kept there," he pointed to a room.

"EXPERIMENTAL" the label read.

"What do we know so far?" Diana asked Keima.

"So far," Keima summarized, "We know that whoever captured your sisters wanted to use them for a spirit experiment." He pointed to the entrance. "I know for sure that Lune came across this cave, either by accident or on purpose, and ran into some trouble."

"How will we get in without being noticed?" Diana questioned.

"We'll fly there under the cover of your invisibility charm," Keima answered, "so there's a much smaller chance of being discovered."

"Once we get inside the stronghold," Keima explained, "we'll break the goddesses out of whatever jail they're in. Whether or not you take on Vintage is your decision to make."

"But what about Lune-sama?" Elsie interrupted."

"Yeah, Katsuragi, what of her?" Keima heard Haqua inquire of him.

"I intend on freeing her as well," Keima responded after a while, "but whatever she does afterwards is her choice."

There was a tense silence as everyone took a moment to review the plan.

"We may very well be walking right into their hands," Diana warned after a while.

"Then at least we made our best effort in trying to save your sisters," Keima replied.

* * *

++[Snowy cave]++

Demons A and B watched the model of Maijima City intently.

What they saw was astounding.

The house where the remaining targets had been were had the targets' dolls in them. But that wasn't the end of it.

There were seven trios of dolls walking around in places that were on opposite sides of town. All of them were marked similarly to the targets, but there were much more dolls than targets.

"This is really weird," Demon B said to his partner.

A wrote all the locations down. A playground, a ramen noodle restaurant, a bridge, a ship by the beach, the game store, a temple off into the mountains, and another park. And then there were the dolls within the houses.

Demon A pulled out a raiment phone and dialed up their leader.

"Hey chief," Demon A reported, "I think there's something wrong with the model maker."

Demon B watched as A winced from the harsh words that followed.

A explained, "there are seven groups of dolls with the markings you mentioned. It doesn't add up."

There was silence on the line for a moment.

"Someone is messing with our plan," was the answer the Vintage leader gave, "Tell me their locations."

Demon A listed the coordinates in real-time.

"Keep an eye on the entire city," was the last thing the alpha said before hanging up.

"Say," Demon B spoke up, "what happened to the goddesses we captured?"

"I heard that the Boss ordered the experiment's initiation prematurely," Demon A whispered.

"Maybe we should sneak a peek at what she's up to?" Demon B suggested.

"We have our orders, you know," was the response.

They continued to stare at the terrain.

"Now what?" they asked simultaneously.

* * *

 **A/N: Maybe I didn't make it obvious enough. It seems like a lot of people didn't understand how Lune got her message to the goddesses...  
Sorry about that. I'll try and explain it now.  
Remember in chapter 6 when this happened?  
**

* * *

++[Snowy Cave]++  
The door to Lune's cell opened to reveal two waiting Vintage demons armed with rifles.  
"Come with us," one of the masked troops ordered in a rough voice.  
Lune was conflicted on whether or not she should attack them. In the end, she decided to cooperate.  
"Maybe I can learn something useful along the way," she thought. She snuck a glance _above the doorway_ , and the others didn't notice.

* * *

 **Basically, she left it there ahead of time, knowing that the goddesses would most likely be imprisoned there.  
** **On that note, that's also why all but one of the holding cells were crossed out with red ink (they had caved in.)  
** **I'm relying too much on chance still... and there were probably more creative ways of explaining this...  
** **D;  
Sorry.**

* * *

 **Written: 9/12-9/15**

 **Update Insertion:1/8/16-1/12/16**

 **Chapter Posted:1/30/16**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, all.**

 **Real life has been rather cruel to me, so I've been away for quite some time.**

 **I will admin- I procrastinated at the _worst_ time when it came to writing.**

 **Here I am, presenting to you another chapter of _Melancholy of the Midnight Blizzard_** _,_ **having months** **inactivity behind me.**

 **Forgive me, please.**

 **I chose today to return for two reasons:**

 **1.) I had free time.**

 **2.) Tonight (April 24th) is Haqua's Birthday.**

 **Be assured: She will be an interesting character to write about later on.**

 **:)**

 **I hope life has been easy on you, and I hope you enjoy this (meh) chapter!**

 **Happy reading!**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares. -Henri Nouwen

+++#9#+++

* * *

++[Abandoned Theater]++

"Katsuragi," Diana asked Keima, "How are you so sure that Vintage won't find us here?"

"It's nothing to worry about," Keima assured her, "I've taken care of that possibility."

"How?" Diana asked with interest.

"Besides our invisibility, Elsie set up raiment dolls of us all over the city, so that will keep them busy for a while," Keima explained.

Elsie saluted cheerfully. "I've been studying!" she explained happily.

"When did that happen?" a confused Diana asked.

"Over the course of the school day," Keima cut in.

"Right," the goddess was clearly not satisfied with the quick explanation, but decided to go along with it because of the circumstances.

"What could Vintage be planning to do with our powers?" Diana wondered as she turned her focus back to their plan.

"I don't know, but tonight we must stop Vintage before they can use them," Keima answered.

"One thing," Diana cut in, "Will we have New Hell backing us this time?"

Keima stared at the goddess. "Not tonight," he answered.

This answer clearly flustered Diana. "No support? We're going into an obvious trap without any sort of help?"

She was met with another cold stare. "Why endanger any more demons _and their human buddies_?"

A tense moment of silence followed.

"Okay, fine," Diana resigned.

From inside, Keima felt Haqua's spirit grow restless.

"You know that's not the real reason why you don't want New Hell coming here," she pestered him.

"Shut up, you," Keima commanded mentally.

Haqua was baffled. "Hey! Just because you want to protect-"

" **Enough.** " the God demanded.

The dejected demon went back into silence.

Meanwhile, more tense moments of quiet had passed.

Elsie shifted uncomfortably in the silence. "Nii-Sama?" she looked at him.

Keima stared at her.

Part of Elsie's raiment condensed and unraveled, revealing a box cutter- Lune's box cutter. Elsie plucked the blade from the mystical fabric and handed it to Keima.

"You might want this, Nii-Sama," Elsie murmured, "Lune-sama wanted me to hold on to this for her, and you don't have a way to defend yourself."

Keima turned the handle over in his hands, inspecting the box cutter intensely. "Thank you," he said after a while. He put it in one of his coat pockets.

"Anyway," Keima continued, "We're invisible from anything tracking our movements all night, thanks to Diana's cloaking charm. It is unlikely that we will be discovered, but be ready for a fight nonetheless."

"Remember," Keima reminded the two in front of him, "if we're found out, it's over for us."

"Elsie," Keima beckoned to his demon sister, "It's a little sudden, but will you be able to cast a flying spell on your broom instead of using your raiment?"

Elsie nodded. "Haqua taught me some flying spells, so I can fly without a raiment, too!"

"That's great," Keima approved, "Will you be able to carry me as well?"

His demon buddy nodded a yes.

"Perfect," Keima said, "we have a better chance of being invisible to Hellish technology."

He went over the plan one final time.

"Are you ready for this?" he turned to Diana.

Diana's eyes blazed with determination. "Whatever it takes to bring my sisters home safely," she answered curtly.

"Elsie?" he turned to his sister.

"Sure, I'm ready," Elsie saluted.

"Let's execute this plan, then," Keima said as he clasped the Vintage handbook shut.

Elsie picked up Keima with her raiment and flew outside. Diana followed soon after.

Together, they flew into the snowy night.

* * *

++[Keima's House]++

Vintage had stepped up their equipment that night's hunt.

A massive force of them searched Keima's house for their target, but found no trace of them.

With their eyeball masks glowing in the moonlight, the goons marched through the halls with assault rifles pointed towards a door.

They kicked it open with rifles blazing.

"I have you now, Capturing God!" the leader shouted.

Staring back at her were three people with blank smiles. They had no reaction as the demon and her troops filed into the bedroom.

"Raiment dolls," the commander cursed aloud. She wouldn't have realized it if not for the blank, empty faces of her targets.

"Wow, these are good raiment dolls," she heard a demon behind her whisper.

The doll that replicated Keima held a handwritten note in its hands.

* * *

Just how stupid do you think we are?

 _Baka._

* * *

"Damn it!" the leader cursed as she fired a round into each doll. The dummies dissolved into pink dust as they were hit. The note floated gently to the floor.

She scanned the room with her raiment for a bit, and kicked a chair over in frustration. After a while, she caught her breath and headed back towards the door.

"Let's go back to our base," she said quietly.

Her henchmen shivered upon hearing their commander so calm.

* * *

++[Chihiro's House]++

Chihiro sat on her bed anxiously staring at her phone. Ayumi had not been answering her calls, which was very worrying. As busy as Ayumi was, she would always find time to talk to her childhood friend.

Chihiro scrolled down to a specific contact on her phone.

* * *

-CONTACTS-

Ayumi

Miyako

Yui

Mom

Dad

Elly

Kanon

Otamegane -

* * *

She seriously considered what to say to him, especially after the Mai High Festival.

"Hey, Otamegane, what's up?"

No, that was too casual. There was a lot of explaining he had to do after that night.

"Hey Otamegane, how's life?"

That was still much too friendly.

Chihiro's mind raced, quickly attempting to piece together the ideal greeting for a conquering god, while also pondering whether or not to even call him.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a severe weather warning!" a voice chimed from the television across the room.

Chihiro lost her train of thought as she looked up from her phone and watched the broadcast with interest.

A map of Maijima was projected on the screen, but it was quickly enveloped in large purple-blue clouds.

"A stong blizzard is expected to hit Maijima City by midnight tonight. This raises even more danger after the heavy snowstorm last night. Meteorologists are baffled by this freak storm, because none of their computer models forsaw the development of this massive system. Bring all pets indoors and stay inside until this dangerous storm has come to pass..." the voice droned on about the dangers of blizzards and the mystery behind this particular storm.

Chihiro looked out her window. In the sky she could see the wall of snow slowly approaching. She was hit with the premonition that something bad had happened to Ayumi.

"I hope Ayumi is okay," she thought to herself.

It crossed Chihiro's mind that Keima would not let the possibility of Ayumi being kidnapped slide by. Knowing him, he'd probably gone after whoever was responsible, if, in fact, she was kidnapped.

"Katsuragi..." she whispered to no one in particular.

* * *

++[Moonlight Forest]++

Diana, Elsie, and Keima flew through the trees. Keima decided that it was better to fly low. That way, it would be harder to detect them using any sort of radar.

The wind was slowly picking up. At first, Keima thought it was because they were flying, but when they landed to rest, it had become much colder.

They took cover under some large trees as powder snow started blowing into their faces.

"What do we do now?" Diana asked Keima.

"It's perfect," Keima noted, "the storm gives us cover."

"It's so cold, Kami-Sama!" Elsie shivered.

"Don't worry," Keima assured her, "we're almost there."

They started flying again up the path at an altitude just below the treeline.

"I can see the opening," Diana pointed out to Keima.

Just as they approached the cave, the air was suddenly filled with silenced tranquilizer darts.

Keima turned around to see the eyeball masks of Vintage demons glowing in the dark.

One of them hit Diana's wings, which shattered into dust upon being hit. The goddess dropped from the sky and fell face-first into a snow bank. The impact rendered her unconscious and unable to defend herself from the band of Vintage demons circling her.

Meanwhile, another bullet grazed Elsie's broom, which sparked violently and jerked uncontrollably. Elsie wobbled mid-flight was flung off the broom. As she fell, twigs of trees scraped at her side until she crashed into the ground.

Keima winced as the snowy floor approached to meet them. His vision went dark as he hit the ground, even though the snow cushioned the impact a bit. Beside him, the broom flickered momentarily, then slowly faded away.

Keima heard someone walk over to them and laugh.

"The Ibis Eye charm," the hooded demon whispered into his ear, "is a lost spell that allows the caster to see through even heavenly cloaking spells." She used her raiment to tie his hands together. "Did you really think we'd be fooled twice?"

"Damn you," Keima cursed as he clenched his hands into fists and lost consciousness.

* * *

Chapter Updated: 9/12/15, 9/16/15, 2/25/16

Chapter Published: 4/24/16

* * *

I didn't really proofread this chapter.

It shouldn't be too big a matter.

I hope that I will not burn.

This I swear- I will return.


	10. Chapter 10

**Finals are coming up, so I'll be very busy for the rest of May.**

:)

 **Watch out for awkward sentences. I feel very unsure of this chapter as a whole.**

 **-FrozenDeluxe *.***

* * *

+++#10#+++

 **Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair. -Edmund Burke**

* * *

++[Snowy Cave/ vintage Hideout]++

Keima woke up inside a glass tube. Rubbing his eyes, he thoroughly analyzed his surroundings.

The room was a cylindrical room, and near its edges were other tubes similar to the one he was trapped in.

To his horror, Keima saw all of the goddesses, each submerged in pink fluid within a respective chamber. Hoses from the ceiling connected to a mouthpiece that each of the goddesses breathed through.

Unlike the others, both Keima and Elsie's cylinders were not yet filled with the pink serum that flowed through the others.

Aside from Diana, the other goddesses appeared unscathed from inside their entrapments. Diana had slight bruises on her face, likely due to her harsh landing in the snow.

Tubes ran from the glass cells to clear jars, which were filled with a yellow gas that shone brilliantly. Wires from these jars ran towards the center of the room, where a stone humanoid figure sat hunched over. Connectors on the statue's back glowed with energy. A tarp lay neatly folded on the floor nearby.

Turning his head, Keima saw Elsie in another glass cylinder. Elsie was badly injured from her crash landing, and blood stained the areas where branches scraped her.

"Elsie!" Keima desperately called to her.

She didn't move.

Further down the line of glassy containers, Keima spotted Lune, who was also floating unconsciously in her own serum. Unlike the pink tint that the goddesses' fluid had, Lune's was a dark crimson. The mist inside the jar connected to her chamber was also a similar shade of crimson.

Keima thought desperately of a way to escape, taking note of every demon's movement and every feature of the cavern.

"I see you have woken up," someone approached Keima's glassy cylinder.

Keima glared at this newcomer. "What do you want with us?" he demanded of her.

The demon laughed behind her hood. "Your souls," she answered simply as she knocked on the glass of Keima's chamber.

Keima continued to hold his steely gaze with his captor. "And who are you to demand me of my soul?" he asked coldy.

The Vintage demon talking to him paused for a moment. She took off her hood to reveal short, flowing white hair. On the left side of her head was a modified loose soul sensor, and a horn protruded from the right side of her forehead. Even in the darkness of the room, Keima could still see the glare from behind her glasses.

"My name's Fiore," the demon in front of him said, "and I'm the one who's going to revive Old Hell." The demon's red eyes glowed in the light of the monitors mounted on the walls.

Fiore pointed to one of the jars full of the bright gas. "Those are auras that sustain the goddesses' spirits," she explained.

"We're tapping into the aura from the hosts' body so we can take advantage of the energy it carries, which is a lot, thanks to you," Fiore continued.

Pointing to the clear jars, Fiore continued her explanation. "We'll convert this heavenly energy into something else, one that has no counterattack. With our hate infused with the goddesses' power, New Hell will be powerless against us!" she declared with pride.

"That's why we're charging that statue with this new form of 'Unholy Cadence' magic, so that the charms and magical nonsense of Hell will have no effect whatsoever," Fiore finished "Even the goddesses' magic is powerless against it."

"As for you," she turned to Keima, "We will do much more than tap into your spirit. We're going to consume it all, and you will no longer be a problem to our cause."

Keima quickly understood the meaning of this grim statement.

"You're going to kill me," he said bluntly.

"Yup!" she answered lightly, "both you and your demon buddy."

"And we're almost through with our test subject. She's been holding up rather well for the amount of time she's survived," Fiore gestured to the glass container in the corner, where Lune's cylinder continued to glow a threatening shade of crimson. "I expect that she will only be able to hold out another three hours before we burn up her soul completely," Fiore smiled devilishly, "One less problem to worry about."

The machine hooked up to the stone statue suddenly lit up, then it sparked for a bit and went out.

"Chief," one of the demons who ran to it called out, "these wires can't handle all the power we're drawing from the goddesses. We'll need even thicker cords."

Fiore stormed off to the malfunctioning device and shut it off while muttering curses. "Get the spare ones in the supply room," she barked at a nearby demon.

The goon saluted and ran off to fetch the wires.

Fiore and a few other demons went to check all of the mechanisms on the spirit extractors.

Keima checked on Elsie. Her bleeding had stopped, but she was still badly hurt. He needed to help her as soon as possible.

"Katsuragi," a voice called from inside his mind.

"Haqua?" Keima almost said out loud.

Her reflection appeared on the glass in front of him. She stared at him with a gaze of steely determination.

"I think I understand what Vintage has in mind, and I have an idea," she said.

"I'm listening," he thought.

"I'll try to take full control of your body when they begin drawing out your soul." she suggested. Keima could see her blush slightly, but the demon shook off her feelings quickly.

"What are you going to do?" Keima asked, "Won't you die?

"Unlike the others' spirits, which Fiore injected with neutralizing potions before being extracted, Fiore didn't think to do the same to you," Haqua answered, "They'll be in for quite a surprise when the soul they're trying to exterminate puts up resistance beyond that of a human."

"Besides," Haqua flashed a confident smile, "I'm already dead."

...

The Vintage team finished repairing the spirit extractors and soon continued to charge the giant stone humanoid.

Fiore walked over to Keima.

"It doesn't really matter, since you're going to die anyway, but put that mask on if you want to live longer," she advised him.

She had one of her henchmen open Elsie's tube and put a mouthpiece on her as well.

Keima focused intently on letting Haqua take control. He felt his senses go dull as his spirit detached from his consciousness.

"Don't worry," Haqua's voice rang through his mind, "You'll only go into a sort of hibernation when they start extracting."

"Let's finish them," Fiore commanded to the hooded demon manning the switches.

The spirit extractors began to flood with the same pink liquid that filled the goddesses' chambers.

The substance flowed like water, yet Keima didn't feel wet. He felt like he was hovering underwater.

Keima felt his body disconnect from his consciousness. As his vision faded, he could see Haqua's reflection on the glass shimmer and disappear.

* * *

 **A/N: Comments are very much appreciated. They encourage me to update my chapters sooner, and not receiving any makes me wonder if people even read this story, tbh.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi all. I've pretty much caught up to the part where I left off writing. Not much of the remaining story is pre-written, meaning that I should probably get to work on making more chapters, right?**

 **Happy summer! By Wednesday of this week (no joke) my school year ends and finals week begins. By Friday, I'm free for the summer.**

 **Enjoy this next chapter! I put forth plenty of my effort into this one, even if it may not appear to be much.**

 **I hope your lives have been rather pleasant.**

 **-FrozenDeluxe ^.^  
**

* * *

+++#12#+++

We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay. - Lynda Barry

* * *

++[Keima's Imagination]++

Keima awoke to the familiar room he found himself in when he was in the coma months ago. The room was filled with empty white nothingness, and the walls were indistinguishable from the floor and ceiling if they existed at all. The only other object in existence besides Keima himself was a doorway made of dark wood. On the door was a skull-shaped doorknob cast in silver, similar to that of Elsie's loose spirit sensor, with its eyes glowing a bright red. Unlike last time, however, the doorway was blocked by a translucent purple ribbon that stretched from one corner to the other.

"Don't be leaving us now," the Hellian message written on the raiment barrier almost teased him. Keima sighed and shook his head, then inspected his surroundings once more. He easily read the message thanks to Haqua's incessant requests to learn it. A language that should have taken a regular human weeks to learn required only two hours of Keima's time, much to Haqua's amazement.

"Wow," Haqua had said, "I guess there's a reason people call you a god." She left his consciousness soon after that compliment in a very flustered manner, much to Keima's bemusement.

Keima shook his head at the message, and focused on his situation once more.

This place was Keima's imagination, so he had full control of what the landscape was. At any given moment, whatever Keima imagined could materialize within his subconscious world, and Keima had one particular setting in mind.

Despite being submerged in the substance and rendered unconscious, Keima was still somehow aware of what went on outside this prison. Even with the emptiness of Keima's environment, he could still hear the noises from the cave, which ranged from the Vintage demons' discussions to the dull humming of the spirit extractors.

"Probably Haqua's work," Keima dismissed the phenomenon with a shrug.

The blank surroundings faded to mirror the conditions outside Keima's body. The white walls molded themselves to form the rocky surface of the cave Keima was trapped in. Keima could see himself float inside the pink liquid in an apparent slumber. The Vintage demons surrounded his tube and applauded. Fiore stood in the middle of the growing crowd, laughing joyously at the elimination of her final target.

"On this very night," Fiore announced to the crowd with glee, "we have just removed the last of our obstacles! New Hell is ours for the taking, and there's no one who can stop us now!" The other demons responded with upbeat cheers and battle cries. Soon after, she left with a crowd of demons around her, talking lightly about her future plans.

Meanwhile, Keima walked around the cavern he was in. Ignoring the throng of demons around his chamber, he decided to check on Lune first.

No one noticed him as he wandered around- it was like he was a ghost. Demons walked through his ghastly body without so much as a glance at the ghoul wandering their base. The people were oblivious to his very existence.

Lune drifted peacefully within her deadly serum. It was an eerie sight, seeing the once powerful demon floating helplessly within her spirit extractor.

"I expect that she will only be able to hold out another three hours before we use up her soul completely," Fiore had said.

An hour had passed since then. That left Keima with two hours to rescue Lune, as well as Elsie and the other goddesses.

How would he do that, Keima asked himself. He pondered in front of her spirit extractor for a while, then returned to his analysis of the Vintage hideout.

On a glass table sat piles of papers written in Hellian. Keima glanced at them briefly, and saw that they were mostly composed of various tables and graphs measuring the energy output of souls. What caught his attention was the officially-sealed document on the corner of the table, isolated from the experimental data. It was dated months ago, around the time he was under the coma.

* * *

+Loose Soul Team Administration+

[NOTICE]: Due to the activity of Hell extremists, the lives of both demons and their human partners have been lost.

In an emergency meeting held by us (the administrators), it was agreed that while a demon is responsible for his/her human buddy's wellbeing, there are many limitations to a human's ability to do the same to his/her demon partner.

We administrators came to the consensus that it is unfair to kill human buddies for events beyond their control (i.e. the death of their demon buddy through the actions of another demon), and have made changes to the human-demon partnership contract. These changes are as follows:

* * *

1.)

Should any demon die as a result of another demon's intent to kill, the human partner of the deceased will not be executed. In lieu of execution, a full memory sweep will be performed as soon as possible on the buddy and any other non-Hell parties who had contact with aforementioned demon.

As for the demon responsible, his/her raiment shall immediately be remotely deactivated, and a task force of officers will be deployed to apprehend the said demon. Should circumstances be proper and necessary, that force is authorized to execute the demon on sight.

2.)

Before the execution of a human or demon following the death of a partner, the cause of aforementioned partner's death will be reviewed by a panel of demons. The final verdict shall be determined by the vote of three-fifths of the council. Upon this decision, the surviving partner will be cleaned of memories or beheaded, with the exception of special cases.

3.)

Any demon found to be in alliance with any illicit organization connected to forbidden magics will be subject to heavy punishment or death, depending on the severity of the crimes committed by the demon in question.

* * *

With such dangerous times, New Hell depends on our integrity more than ever. Please remember the struggle that unfolded prior to the founding of New Hell, and consider your own standing as a demon of Hell. The futures of New Hell's demons rest upon our shoulders, and it is our job to guide them.

Signed,

Chief Dokuro Skull, Head of Supervision

* * *

"This must be linked to Haqua's death," Keima concluded. If this was an important announcement from New Hell, why, then, did he not hear about this from anyone? Knowing his demon sister, Elsie probably forgot to tell him, or otherwise thought that it wasn't important enough.

Around Keima, various researchers scurried around checking dials on dubious looking machines or taking notes. Fiore watched a screen displaying the amount of energy being transferred to her stone humanoid.

Keima walked over to the row of spirit extractors containing the goddesses and observed them levitating while submerged in pink spirit serum.

The goddesses suddenly glowed within their tubes, then teleported outside. They opened their eyes and gathered around Keima.

"Took you long enough," Keima muttered.

"Because we do not have physical bodies and instead rely on hosts, we goddesses do not have the ability to create a dream world like humans do," Mercury explained with a yawn, "and right now, our hosts are not in such a state where they can do that."

The goddesses looked around the cave and met eyes with one another.

"So it seems we are here together once more," Vulcan broke the uncertain silence.

Diana's eyes glazed over with tears. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you," she apologized to each of them.

Apollo pulled her sisters in for a group hug. "Don't blame yourself," she said cheerfully, "it wasn't your fault."

Mercury went to Keima. "Do you see those hourglasses?" she gestured to the hourglasses that took the goddesses' places inside the spirit extractors. Inside each golden hourglass, white sand filtered down to the bottom. Of the goddesses' hourglasses, Keima noticed, Diana's was the one with the most sand remaining.

"In reality, we're still in those things, but we still have enough power to move around into your dream world." Mercury explained.

"Our magic will only last as long as those are full," Diana told Keima, "so we'll have to move quickly."

Lune and Elsie glowed for a bit, then teleported outside their cells as well.

Lune remained unconscious, but Elsie got up and ran into Keima's open arms.

"I'm so scared, Nii-Sama!" she cried as she embraced her brother tightly.

"You're hurt," Keima pointed out Elsie's bloodstained clothes. Minerva came and healed Elsie's wounds with a healing incantation.

Keima comforted his demon buddy for a bit, and went to check on Lune with the other goddesses.

"She's alive, but she doesn't have much time left," Minerva whispered sadly.

"She's too weak to even dream," Mercury observed grimly.

Minerva anxiously watched over Lune. Out of her sisters, she was probably the one most attached to her, and it frightened Minerva to see Lune so...vulnerable. She transferred some of her energy to Lune.

Keima pulled Lune's boxcutter out from one of his pockets and put it in her in inner pocket of her lab coat.

Mercury waved a hand, and the boxcutter glowed briefly."Now she'll have it in reality as well," she said.

"She'll need that later," Keima said quietly. He stared at the empty scabbard hanging by Lune's left thigh.

"Does that mean you have some sort of plan to get us out of here?" Mars asked from behind Keima.

Keima nodded.

"Do tell us!" Apollo said anxiously. The others stopped their conversations and looked at the Conquering God attentively.

Keima explained how Haqua's spirit had been extracted in place instead of Keima's, and mentioned Fiore's failure to neutralize Haqua's magic.

"That explains how you're still able to make this dream world," Diana said, "Your soul isn't being consumed."

"That demon bought us some time to plan," Vulcan noted.

"But what will happen to Haqua?" Elsie asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure," Keima answered, "But right now we need to plan what we're going to do if we happen to get out of these chambers."

"We'll need to discuss this by ourselves first," Diana told Keima.

Minerva left the group at the urging of her sisters. She walked to Elsie, grasped the demon's arm, and hugged it. The little goddess was visibly bristling with fear.

The other goddesses huddled and discussed ideas amidst themselves. With hushed voices they laid out possible escape routes and battle strategies, and occasionally glanced at Keima, Elsie, and Minerva. Once or twice they looked at Lune as well.

"Katsuragi," Mercury called Keima forward.

"We have enough magic teleport you and your demon buddy to safety," Mercury suggested, "and us goddesses can take on these demons."

"But we can't just leave you here!" Keima protested.

"There isn't anything you can do to help us here," Vulcan added, "you'll just end up putting yourselves in greater danger."

Keima couldn't argue with that logic. He crossed his arms and nodded reluctantly.

"Minerva," Diana summoned her sister.

Minerva toddled over, tugging Elsie along with an arm.

"You should go with them," Mercury suggested to her younger sister.

Minerva was hesitant to go.

"B-but what about you?" she nervously stuttered.

Diana smiled. "Don't worry about us."

"Yeah," Apollo winked, "we can take these hooded weirdos on!"

"You're safer with these two than you are here," Mars advised.

Keima looked around at the goddesses.

"You better come home safely," Keima said bluntly.

Diana smirked. "Do you doubt us?" she challenged.

Keima met her steely gaze. "You just had your spirit drained," he reminded her, "and some sort of potion was injected into your bodies to weaken your magic."

"Hold that thought," Mercury interrupted groggily. She rubbed her hand on the spot on her back where Fiore's tranquilizer dart had hit her earlier and put a finger to her tongue. "As I thought," she analyzed the remnants of the dart's contents, "this neutralizing agent only lasted long enough to put us under this serum's effects." The sleepy deity flinched. "Tastes bitter, too," she winced.

"Don't worry, Keima-kun," Mars put a fist to her heart, "we won't let them get the best of us a third time!"

"We'll pay them six-fold for what they've done to us!" Apollo grinned devilishly.

"I already have my methods planned out," Vulcan added with a scowl, "I will punish those knaves."

Keima smiled. "If you say so," he answered.

"Nii-Sama," Elsie called for her adoptive brother's attention as she pointed at his spirit extractor, "Look at yourself!" Everyone followed her finger to Keima's chamber.

As the other Vintage demons walked around checking various gauges on the spirit extractors, Keima's liquid had slowly turned a dark purple.

The goddesses watched with interest as the purple fluid turned into a fog and entered the spirit container. Upon entering it, it began to shine with a golden shimmer.

"Do you feel that?" Vulcan asked her sisters. The others nodded.

"It's the demon," Mercury said, "She's drawing our power to revive herself."

On the screens displaying the stone statue's power level, the numbers began decreasing dramatically. Line graphs declined sharply, and dials indicating energy transfer began revolving backwards. An alarm went off on the console connected to the stone colossus, causing the attending demons to run frantically around the room checking essential instruments and connections.

Fiore angrily burst into the room. "What's wrong now?" she demanded furiously. A train of demons trailed her as she stormed towards the attending demons.

"The amount of energy being absorbed has reduced dramatically!" one of the scientists reported.

"The stored electricity in the statue is actually decreasing!" another said, "It's like something's draining all of the energy!"

"We have no idea why-" the first demon froze when he turned to Keima's tube, which now had streaks of vibrant red swirling within the purple serum. The others gathered around Keima's tube.

"Why is it like this?" Fiore asked the lead scientist.

"We have no id-."

Fiore smashed her non-bandaged fist on a table. "Not even one theory?" she demanded angrily.

The demon flinched at the angry remark and cleared his throat. "His spirit should be fully consumed by now, but it seems that this isn't the case," he nervously answered.

The goddesses looked at each other.

"Everyone," Diana took charge, "send some of your power to Katsuragi's body. Let's aid this demon's spirit."

The sisters formed a circle and held hands. A ball of magic formed in the middle of the goddesses' circle and floated over to Keima's cylinder. The ball entered the serum and purple liquid inside his cylinder started swirling violently, and the crimson streaks sparked violently from within as the whirlpool of fluid continued its rotation.

"What's this?" the demons around Keima's chamber worriedly murmured. They were getting antsy at this new development.

"Well don't just stand there," Fiore barked, "kill him before he causes any more trouble!" In response to her sudden command, a few demons walked up to Keima's glass chamber and pointed their rifles at him.

"Be ready to take on those demons with weakened powers," Diana advised her sisters.

"Of course we can take them!" Apollo cracked her knuckles.

Elsie cringed as the glass of Keima's machine began to crack.

"Finish him," Fiore commanded.

...

The purple gas inside the spirit jar quickly flowed back into the liquid surrounding Keima. Upon coming into contact with the serum, the gas rapidly expanded, bursting Keima's spirit extractor and spraying the area with purple serum. The resulting blue explosion sent a shock wave that pushed Fiore and the nearby demons across the room, their weapons knocked out of their hands without a single shot being fired. Meanwhile, the other spirit extractors holding Elsie, Lune, and the goddesses shattered as well. A torrent of spirit serum quickly coated the floors before draining off into the cavern walls. The hourglasses inside the extractors transformed back to their original occupants, who came to rest gently on the bottom of their respective chambers.

The goddesses looked at Keima and nodded one last time as they faded into nothingness.

The cloaked henchmen flocked to their leader like knights surrounding their leader. The soldiers looked uncertainly at their commander awaiting any new commands. Fiore looked on in shock, having just witnessed the failure of her master plan. She stood unsteadily while clutching her bandaged hand, taking in the scene unfolding before her. Blood dripped from a gash on her forehead, and her glasses were slightly askew.

The purple serum condensed into a syrupy puddle in front of Keima's now shattered chamber, then began to take form and solidify...

Keima's vision went blurry as his consciousness returned to his body.

* * *

 **Chapter written:11/15, 11/17, 5/20-21**

 **Chapter updated, 5/20-22**

 **Chapter released: 5/23**

* * *

 **A/N: I'll take a moment to outline my future plans. There aren't much, tbh.**

 **1\. More Anime**

 **Obviously**

 **2\. MotMB**

 **With my influx of anime, I have a renewed interest in this story. Summer is here, so I now have time to act upon those interests.**

 **3\. Gaming**

 **Man, I sound like an otaku by now, don't I?**

* * *

 **[ANNOUNCEMENT]: The third story of the TLWtD series has been cancelled due to certain events (previously mentioned). Should you want a copy of the story (I never delete stuff), please feel free to PM me. I'll gladly give you whatever I have written.**

* * *

 **"Return the dead back to the dead"  
**

 **In more ways than one, I disagree with this anime reference.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi. FrozenDeluxe here.  
**

 **I've missed writing for this story... but I lack the confidence to post any chapters...**

 **I'm sure the 11th chapter foreshadowed most of what was coming next, and I'll probably explain the mechanics for that in the author's note of another chapter.**

 **Just know that another chapter already exists for this story, and one after that, but no set ending.**

 **I'm kind of scared to see the reviews for this chapter tbh.**

 **Ah, that out of the way, I present to you lucky 12 (my fav number)!**

* * *

+++#12#+++

"If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; / If not, why then this parting was well made." Shakespeare, _The Tragedy of Julius Caesar_

* * *

++[Vintage Stronghold]++

Keima woke up on the cold floor of the makeshift lab, his head still pounding from the shock of the explosion. Around him, alarms blared, and more Vintage demons poured in from the entrance.

The purple sludge in front of him continued to pull itself into a form. It took the shape of a human body and flooded the cave with a blinding light. When his vision cleared, Keima stared at the thing, or more accurately, the demon in front of him in disbelief.

With her simple black cloak waving slightly in the breeze, Haqua gazed back with a smile. "Nice to see you again!" the newly -resurrected greeted cheerfully.

The Vintage demons were just as shocked. "Who is that?" they asked amongst themselves.

Fiore looked on with a mixture of anger and shock. "Y-you're supposed to be dead!" she hissed as she pointed at Haqua.

Haqua turned to face Fiore. "At least I died protecting New Hell's future," Haqua retorted, "You were busy ruining it!"

Meanwhile, the Vintage demons blocked off the exit and began positioning themselves around the cavern with their assault rifles quivering, but ready to fire.

The goddesses quickly gained control of their hosts and shone a bright gold. They stood up inside their now empty entrapments and then released a wave of energy that further shattered the glass of their prisons. The sisters congregated around Keima.

The sisters, though a little unsteady at first, had recovered some of the power they had lost.

Mercury, Vulcan, and Minerva set up a powerful forcefield that barricaded half of the room temporarily. A few demons on the other side attempted to penetrate the barrier with their swords, but to little avail. On the Vintage demons' side, there was no seeing through the field, but from within the goddesses could observe their surroundings.

Keima went to Elsie and made sure she was okay. He took off his jacket and tied it around her chest where her cuts used to be.

"Nii-Sama, I'm scared!" Elsie said as she hugged her "brother" tightly. She looked around and saw Haqua watching them.

"Haqua?" Elsie cried out in disbelief.

Haqua gave a small wave and smiled. "It's been a while, Elsie," she greeted her friend.

Elsie ran over and almost knocked Haqua over with the force of her hug.

"I never thought I'd see you again!" Elsie said tearfully as she embraced her dearest friend tighter.

"Hey!" Keima scolded his demon buddy from behind, "You're still hurt!"

Normally, Haqua would've protested to her friend hugging her for fear of embarrassment, but she couldn't deny that she had missed being together as well. Haqua wrapped an arm around Elsie's shoulder and smiled happily.

Keima then went over to Lune's shattered spirit extractor. Lune slumped over unmoving on the floor of the chamber. Keima checked for a pulse, and upon finding one, tried to rouse her awake. "Hey," he muttered as he gently shook Lune's shoulder, "Don't give up on me now."

Lune woke up and stared at the ceiling for a bit, then her eyes slowly came to focus on Keima. "Fancy seeing you here," she smiled weakly. She sat up unsteadily and leaned heavily on a surviving pane of glass from her extractor.

Minerva saw that Lune was awake, and tugged Apollo along as she rushed to see her. The little goddess hugged Lune as Apollo tended to Lune's injuries.

Apollo stared intently at the arrow wound in Lune's back. "You took quite a beating," she noted. After healing up the injury, Apollo sighed and rejoined her bickering sisters in their "discussion."

"I assume you have a plan to get out of here?" Lune asked Keima as Minerva held her hand and shared some of her power.

Keima looked around the cave. "From the looks of it, we'll have to deal with Vintage if everyone will escape with their lives," he answered, "and the goddesses want to teleport Elsie and me out of here."

"But then they won't have enough energy to get out themselves," Lune noticed.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about," Keima replied grimly, "but they are confident that they can handle those demons."

Lune glanced at the Vintage soldiers surrounding the magical barrier. "Aren't they going to leave any for me?" she asked devilishly as she tried to stand up, "I have scores to settle too, you know."

"It looks like that won't be a problem," Keima assured her as more Vintage guards poured in from the lab's entrance.

Keima's eyes widened as he remembered something. "By the way," he added, "I brought you something." He gestured to an inner pocket of Lune's lab coat.

Lune face brightened a bit when she pulled her beloved utility knife out of the hidden pocket. "Heh," Lune laughed a little, "looks like this little thing found its way back to me in the end. Thanks."

Behind Keima, the goddesses finished up their discussions.

"Katsuragi," Mercury called from behind Keima.

Keima turned around.

"Time for you guys to leave," she beckoned to him, Elsie, and Minerva.

"Haqua," Keima walked up to the demon and looked her in the eyes, "Show no mercy. Dokuro has condemned these demons to their deaths."

Haqua blushed at being so close to Keima, caught her breath, and met his gaze. "Naturally. These idiots are a threat to New Hell and all it stands for!"

Elsie came to stand beside Keima. She looked at him uncertainly, unsure of what the future held for them.

"Nii-sama," Elsie whimpered, "I'm scared." Keima gave her a reassuring pat on the head.

Minerva squeezed Lune's hand and looked up at her uncertainly. "W-what about you?" she asked with concern.

Lune looked at the goddess and smiled confidently. "I'll be fine. This isn't the worst of situations I've found myself in, after all."

Minerva wasn't convinced.

"Don't worry about me- I can mop the floor with these jerks easily!" Lune grinned mischievously as she patted the goddess's head, "But you should go with those two."

The goddess nodded and went to Keima. As scared as she was, Lune's reassurance helped quell some of her fears, even if it was only for a little bit.

"I'll see you later, Elsie," Haqua waved, "we have plenty to catch up on."

Elsie wiped away tears as she looked at her friend, quite possibly for the last time. "Come back home safely, okay?" she pleaded anxiously.

Keima looked around at the goddesses one last time.

"I'll hold you to your word, so you guys better keep it," Keima said.

Apollo pretended to take offense. "You don't think us goddesses can uphold a simple promise?" she feigned disappointment, "Have some more confidence in us, will ya?"

The Jupiter Sisters surrounded Keima, Elsie, and Minerva. Lune and Haqua stood awkwardly to the side and watched them with interest.

After murmuring a few incantations, the three people in the middle of the circle slowly began fading away. The goddesses concentrated intently on completing the spell, allowing no room for errors.

"We'll see you later then!" Mars winked as Keima grew more translucent. With that, Keima, Elsie, and Minerva disappeared and were teleported back to the Katsuragi household.

* * *

Upon completing the transportation spell, Vulcan turned to her remaining sisters. "Sooner or later, the forcefield will degenerate," she notified them, "With Minerva gone, we don't have enough energy to sustain it." As if on cue, the magical barrier around them began cracking from the outside demons' attacks.

"Protect me," the eldest goddess asked of her sisters, "there's something I want to try."

"Leave it to me!" Apollo saluted playfully.

Mars walked over to Haqua and held out her hands, which shone brightly as a longsword made out of celestial gold materialized. The sword was nestled inside its sheath, which was lined in polished silver.

"You may want this," the war goddess winked as she offered Haqua the newly created blade.

Haqua thanked her and tied the sheath around her waist.

Lune, though still weak from nearly having her spirit drained, decided that she would still fight. "This knife'll certainly help, but I can just as easily take these guys with my bare hands," Lune smiled murderously at the thought.

Lune watched the magical wall disintegrate as she stood there unconsciously extending and retracting the blade of her boxcutter. Suddenly, a ball of light appeared and floated in front of Lune and began taking a more defined shape. With its blade still bloodstained from the previous night, the gem-encrusted sword levitated within an arm's reach of its owner. Lune plucked it from the air and glanced at the delicate lettering etched onto the sword.

—GUARDIAN—

Lune took a moment to decide on her battle style, and tucked her boxcutter back in its hidden pocket.

Mars, who had been walking towards Lune to give her a sword of her own, stared at the glistening sword in awe. "Looks like you're good, then," she shrugged.

Haqua watched Lune's bejeweled sword materialize from a distance, but remained silent. "Looks like Chief Dokuro trusts her as well," she thought. Shaking off her thoughts, she gripped her new sword tightly by the hilt and analyzed the demons on the other side of the magical barrier.

* * *

 **{Author's note}**

 **It would appear that my story is approaching its end. I'd just like to say thanks to all you readers who stayed despite the long wait!**

 **The upcoming chapter is iffy, and the next even more so.**

 **A split ending is in consideration.**

 **Lately I have been trying to work on my characterization of people. Any suggestions?**

 **Comments are very much appreciated, no matter how critical they may be! They encourage me, you know.**

* * *

 **{LOGS}**

 **Chapter written: 11/11, 11/15, & 11/17**

 **Chapter updated: 5/21, 6/9, 6/20, & 6/28-30**

 **Chapter completed: 7/1**

 **Chapter posted: 7/1**

* * *

And now for your chapter anime reference: Deus Ex Machina... D.E.M.


End file.
